


99 Reasons Why I'm Not Good Enough For You

by cyanspade



Category: Kissed By the Baddest Bidder, Voltage Inc - Fandom, Voltage Inc. - All Media Types, スイートルームで悪戯なキス | Kissed By the Baddest Bidder
Genre: Angst, F/M, Gen, Kidnapping, Regret, Rescue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-05
Updated: 2017-05-05
Packaged: 2018-10-28 12:05:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10830930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cyanspade/pseuds/cyanspade
Summary: He should’ve answered the phone when he had the chance.





	99 Reasons Why I'm Not Good Enough For You

* * *

              The auctions were once again in full swing. All the items Baba put up were the star of the show, and none of the patrons could get enough of the prized antiques on stage. Every time the zeroes piled up, Eisuke’s smirk grew wider.

              Good, Eisuke thought. _More profit for us._

              His phone buzzed all of a sudden, but he paid it no mind. The auctions were more important than some offhanded phone call. He didn’t even bother taking his phone out of his pocket when he pressed the sleep button to make it stop ringing.

              Whoever was calling him must have been pretty insistent because the phone wouldn’t stop ringing even after Eisuke ignored it the first time.

_Annoying bastard. Didn’t this person get the message already?_

              Irritated, he turned his phone off. At least he wouldn’t be disturbed anymore.

* * *

              “Eisuke, where’s Koro? I’m thirsty,” whined Ota, sprawled across the couch. After the auctions ended on a successful note, they all headed to the penthouse to celebrate.

              “I just paged her. She should be here any minute now.”

              “I haven’t seen her today. I didn’t even see her at the I.V.C!” Baba exclaimed. 

              “Now that you mention it, Sexy Bones hasn’t been here all day…” Luke added before mumbling something about “a waste of a perfect bone structure.”

              “Maybe we’ll get answers from her when she gets here,” Eisuke concluded. _I haven’t seen her either, strangely enough._

              Fifteen minutes later, she still hadn’t arrived to the penthouse. Eisuke was starting to get impatient. Where the hell was she? Oh, she was going to get an earful from him later.

              “Strange. Normally, she would’ve arrived ten minutes earlier,” Shuichi commented curiously.

              “Cut her some slack. She’s probably in the bathroom or something. Diarrhea can happen to anyone, ya know,” said a half-asleep Mamoru, chuckling slightly.

              Eisuke didn’t pay attention to the vulgar comment. It was probably faster to just call her directly. With a click of his tongue, he grabbed his phone to dial her number. Before he could input his passcode, he was met with an unnerving sight.

              Twelve missed calls. All from her.

_What the hell…?_ Weird. She almost never called him directly, so seeing a barrage of missed calls was a bit jarring, to say the least. Was this a prank? 

              “The number you have dialed is currently unavailable,” recited the operator monotonously. 

              An unsettling feeling pooled in his stomach. Something wasn’t right. 

              “Boss? What’s up? Why do you look like you broke a nail or something?” Baba asked mischievously. 

              Eisuke didn’t have the energy to retort to the joke. “You didn’t see her at all today, right?” 

              “No…but what are you getting at?”

              “Aihara, did you see her at work?” Eisuke turned to the younger man. There was a growing urgency in his voice that the others could hear.

              “No, I didn’t. I thought she was on sick leave,” Hikaru shrugged back.

_She didn’t call in sick today. What’s going on?_

              “…If you want, I can go check on her dorm,” Baba suggested. The thief could sense the seriousness in Eisuke’s expression, and to be honest, he was feeling a bit worried, too.

              Baba left the room immediately. The others remained in the penthouse, but the mood changed from celebratory to tense. 

              No one wanted to admit that their initial worry grew worse with each passing second. Eisuke tried to call her, but all he kept receiving in return was the operator’s dull voice. He could only hope that his fears were unfounded when Baba came back.

              “Guys!” Baba yelled, slamming the penthouse door open. “Something’s wrong!” His face was uncharacteristically panicked, and he was panting from all the running he did.

              “Spit it out already,” Soryu quipped, not comfortable with the suspense. 

              “It’s ____…” Baba gulped heavily. “Her room’s been ransacked and I can’t find her anywhere.”

              They all froze at Baba’s explanation. Whatever came next—

              “I think she’s been kidnapped,” he confessed grimly, looking straight into Eisuke’s eyes.

              That was the switch that set everyone off. 

              “ _Shit_! Check the GPS on her phone! Soryu, get the Dragons ready!” 

              Soryu wasted no time standing up and calling the Ice Dragons. Meanwhile, Hikaru grabbed his laptop and typed a plethora of commands in lightning speed. The rest of them bolted up and tried to contact her, but to no avail.

              “I can’t pick up anything from her phone,” Hikaru admitted, fists clenched. “It must have been destroyed.”

              “You’re kidding…” Ota uttered. “Is there anything else we can do to figure out where she is?”

              “Who the hell could even get past security?” Mamoru inquired, unusually alert.

              “Tch. That doesn’t matter now. Just think of something already!” Eisuke roared. 

_Stay calm, stay calm. I’m going to lose my fucking mind—_

              Eisuke, in a frantic attempt to find some sort of answer, scrolled furiously through his phone. Through the pile of unread messages, he spotted one from her, sent four hours ago. There were no words in the message, and all that was sent was a blurry picture of a warehouse by the docks.

              “Aihara! Find out where this place is! And do it quickly!” Eisuke commanded, throwing his phone at the younger man. If he wasn’t so desperate, he would’ve been a bit more polite.

              Hikaru skillfully caught the phone. “She sent you this?” he asked Eisuke suspiciously.

              “Just shut up and look for the place already. We don’t have time for this.” 

              A few minutes later, Hikaru managed to trace the address of the photo. Without wasting another breath, they all sprang to their feet and hoped they weren’t too late.

              _Please._

* * *

              Getting to the location was a feat in itself.  


              “Do you always drive like a maniac, Ichinomiya!?” Shuichi held onto the armrest of the passenger seat for dear life. “You almost hit that car!”

              “Look, I don’t give a shit about proper driving right now. I just want to get to that warehouse, pronto. If you don’t like it, you can get the hell out of here.”

              Shuichi only clicked his tongue in return. He didn’t want to admit it, but Eisuke was right. They all wanted to get to her as soon as possible. 

              “That’s great and all, just make sure we don’t die before we get there!” Ota yelped after Eisuke made a sharp curve.

              After a few near-death turns and miraculous luck, they arrived at the docks. Soryu and the Ice Dragons came immediately after them, all poised and ready to take orders.

              “Get rid of anyone in the way,” Soryu ordered. He cocked his gun threateningly. “Move!”

              The warehouse itself was abandoned, and thankfully for them, their manpower made it easy for them to burst in the building without having to deal with any obstacles.

              The first thing they heard when they made their way inside was a familiar scream of pure agony. There, huddled on the floor, was her bloody, beaten body clutching herself in pain. One of the men surrounding her was about to swing down a baseball bat, which was already covered in blood from earlier use. 

              She feebly managed to look at the auction managers’ direction. Very, very weakly, she mouthed something almost imperceptible, yet they all managed to see it.

              Help.

              The triggers, both in their minds and in their guns, were pulled.

              “ _Get the fuck away from her!_ ”

              The place became a bloodbath for their wrath. Soryu’s, Hikaru’s, and Mamoru’s guns all fired one after the other at the kidnappers. The three of them gave no chance to fight back. All that could be heard was the rain of bullets and gunpowder. 

              Baba, thanks to the others’ diversion, managed to bring her away from the ensuing gunfight. He laid her down gently for Luke to do first aid.

              “It hurts…it hurts…” she whimpered pitifully. From up close, her injuries looked worse than they seemed. The bruises on her limbs were beginning to turn blue, and the black eye on her face was swelling. Eisuke watched the whole scene, and his insides lurched at the sight.

_Those sons of bitches are going to pay. I’ll make sure of it._

              “It’s okay, Sexy Bones. Everything will be okay,” Luke soothed her. “Does your chest hurt?”

              “It hurts…to b—breathe…” She tried to move, but she only flinched in pain when her torso shifted.

              Luke’s eyes flashed with dread. He turned immediately to Eisuke, who shook himself out of his stupor. 

              “Eisuke, call an ambulance. _Now_. I think she might have broken her ribs,” he said with an uncharacteristic gravity. 

              Sure enough, Eisuke didn’t think twice before dialing the number. He gave her one last look, and he wanted to beat himself up for letting this happen to her. If only they came sooner. If only he answered his phone—

              “E—eisuke…” she called out to him feebly.

              “Don’t talk now. Save your energy.”

              “I—I didn’t tell them…anything about the—the auctions…” she sputtered before going unconscious. 

_Don’t tell me they did this to you for that reason—_

              Something in him snapped. He made his way over to Soryu, who was just about done with the kidnappers. 

              “Give me your gun,” Eisuke asked coldly. 

              “What are you—“

              He didn’t bother listening to Soryu’s complaints when he grabbed the gun from its holster. Everyone’s shouts were mute noise to him as he approached the kidnappers’ fallen bodies.

              They were already riddled with bullet holes from the earlier fight, but Eisuke felt the need to go a step further.

              Cocking the gun once more, he aimed at them. 

              “This one’s for her.”

* * *

              The next day came, but none of them felt any better.

              Seeing her lying down on a hospital bed—unconscious, injured, and jacked with painkillers—did nothing to lift their spirits. She may have been safe now, but the fact that she was hurt because of them never left their minds. All they could do was watch her sleep and hope the pain would go away.

              After a few minutes of their contemplative silence, her eyes fluttered open.

              “G—guys…?” She tried sitting up, but Ota quickly moved to her.

              “Ah, you can’t get up yet, Koro,” he chided, in an attempt to lighten the mood. “The doctor says you have a couple of broken ribs, so you can’t exert yourself.”

              “Oh. I see…” she bit her lip nervously. “Well, in any case, thank you all for everything. I’m sorry for causing you all trouble. I—I promise this won’t happen again.” 

              All of them winced at her apology. Why was she saying sorry when she was the one who suffered? Eisuke, in particular, felt his skin crawl at every word she said.

              “Princess…” Baba faltered. “What are you saying?” 

              “Don’t say that, ___…just stop already…” Hikaru gritted his teeth in frustration.

              She didn’t like seeing them so upset, so she changed the subject.

              “…I must look like crap, huh?” she laughed self-deprecatingly. “I don’t think I can go to work looking like this. I guess I can’t make Eisuke’s coffee for a whi—“

              “___, those calls,” Shuichi implored, his eyes wavering. “Were you…trying to call us for help?”

              She nervously looked to the side, trying to avoid his gaze. 

              “Ah…I couldn’t think of anyone else to call. A—anyway! It’s fine! It’s not like it would’ve made any difference if you guys answered. You guys should stop worrying about it—“

              “No, it’s not fine _, goddammit!_ ” Eisuke, who was silent the whole time, suddenly yelled.

              _While I was busy counting zeroes at the auction, you were all alone, beaten senselessly by some assholes and for what? For me? For the one person who didn’t even bother to come to you when you needed me the most?_

“Why are you always like this?! Why can’t you just get mad and blame us?! _Why can’t you just hate me already?!_ ” Eisuke’s voice was cracking, and he didn’t care about the tears that were coming out. So be it if they all saw him at his weakest point. None of that compared to what she had to go through.

              Soryu walked up to him and placed his hand on his friend’s shoulder. “You should stop, Eisuke. Don’t stress her out.”

              The others were all staring at him in awed sorrow. There was no room for smartass comments when their leader was on the verge of a breakdown. Eventually, they, too, couldn’t hold back their sobs.

              “If—if we made it earlier we could’ve—“ he choked.

              “I’m sorry…” she said sadly. 

              “Shut up…don’t apologize. Just—just rest and get better,” he sputtered before storming out of the room and away from everyone’s tear-filled gazes.

* * *

              At the hospital roof, he had time to reflect on his own. 

              He hated it that she always had to apologize because he knew, better than anyone, whose fault it was that she went through something horrible.

              He was to blame.


End file.
